How are the former RMHS assistants faring?

Former Rocky Mount assistant Chris Lee is in his third season as head coach at Louisburg High. He and his team are off to an 0-1 start with a makeup game with Ravenscroft set for Monday.  
(Photo/Geoff Neville)

 

Since Rocky Mount's football program currently has five former assistants who are now high school head coaches, I figured we'd check in on them every two weeks or so to see how their seasons are going. 

And after two weeks of the 2011 campaign, only one of them is 2-0 and two of them are still undefeated.

Here is how they stand after Week 2 of their respective seasons! 

Alan Hess, Crawford County High (IN)

Week 1 – Lost to North Harrison, 26-21
Week 2 – Lost to Paoli, 75-7 (0-2) 

Mark Hoover, Central Davidson High

Week 1 – Lost to Carrboro, 47-36
Week 2 – Lost to Randleman, 50-40 (0-2) 

Chris Lee, Louisburg High

Week 1 – Lost to Southern Vance, 26-10
Week 2 – Ravenscroft, Monday 

Dickie Schock, Rocky Mount High

Week 1 – Defeated Bunn, 30-0
Week 2 – Ties Bertie, 22-22 (1-0-1) 

Chad Smith, Easley High (SC)

Week 1 – Defeated West Oak, 70-0
Week 2 – Defeated Daniel, 22-21 (2-0)

In my research to find out the names of other former RMHS assistants who went on to become a head coach, this is what I have come up with so far. Listed will be the assistant, then the school (s) name where they were head coaches.

Dudley Whitley - Rocky Mount
Walt Wiggins - Rocky Mount
Ray Durham - Jacksonville, Rocky Mount
Henry Trevathan - Wilson Fike
Shelton Chesson - Whiteville
Phil Harris - Washington
George Kelley - Rocky Mount
Brent David - Winston-Salem Carver

Gryphons have turned amphibious!

Rocky Mount quarterback Michael Hines scrambles for some yardage in Thursday's game against Bertie (Photo/Cal Bryant) - click on photo to enlarge

How many of you remember the Chicago Charities College All-Star Game - once played each summer before the Hall of Fame Game?

It was an exhibition game, played for charity, that pitted the defending Super Bowl champions (the Pittsburgh Steelers, in this case) against the best college football players of the previous season. It had a 42-year history.

It was held at Soldier Field and the last game of the series, as it turned out, was played the summer of 1976 when a downpour to end all downpours halted the game in the third period - a rarity for the NFL.

I watched that game on TV, but I relived it again last Thursday night - at least the rain part.

With Rocky Mount down 22-14 to Bertie with more than half the third quarter left, the Gryphons made the most heroic drive I have ever witnessed in over 40 years of watching them play.

The week before at Bunn, a driving rain didn't put a damper in the Gryphons' opening 80-yard drive. I kinda attributed it to their disgust of having to spend more than hour sitting on a bus waiting for a storm cell to pass by and start the season.

This time at Bertie, if you can imagine, the rain was much harder when RMHS took over the ball at its own 42. In fact, water was sheeting off the glass of the press box while fans scurried for cover.

This was a monsoon - more water than I had ever seen at a prep football game. Before it was over, even the press box was leaking.

But this was of no concern to these Gryphons. They relished in playing in the deluge, while Bertie's players were unsure and certainly unaware of RMHS' resolve in this type situation.

There were no fumbles, no bad snaps - just good old country running up the gut - mostly led by junior Mason Hines. It took 13 plays for the Gryphons to get to the end zone, and eight of them were hand offs to Mason.

He ended the drive with a 10-yard run to pull the Gryphons within two. His brother Michael, the quarterback tied it a 22-all when he somehow fell into the end zone in a mass of wet humanity.

A possession later at its own 20, a lightning bolt appeared and the players were called off the field with 21.7 second left in the period. The Gryphons made a bee-line to their buses.

Most thought there would be a 30-minute delay as prescribed by NCHSAA rules, but this contest wasn't going any further.

The back of the end zones were lakes and the sidelines had turned to rivers. Ponds were forming all over the playing field. There was no way play was going to continue that night.

So the game was ruled a tie - the first time the Gryphons have been involved in a deadlock since 1976 - the year before overtime came to be in N.C. high school football. RMHS came away from Durham with a 26-26 score with Hillside at Durham County Stadium.

Now the Gryphons might be looking for a little rain in every game. As for me, precipitation the day before is enough for me!

Gryphons featured in Nashville Graphic Football Tab

Check out the Rocky Mount Gryphons as well as all the Nash County high school football teams in the 2011 Pigskin Preview Football Tabloid published by the Nashville Graphic.

To read the tabloid, click on the following link: http://www.nashvillegraphic.com/photos/File129.pdf (give it a minute or two to download) and enlarge the page to about 125 percent so you can read the text. The tabloid is in a pdf file. 

This year, North Carolina Wesleyan's football team is also featured. The Battling Bishops, the defending USA South Conference champs, will be playing all their home games at Death Valley at Northern Nash High School. 

The Wilson Times has also published its annual football tab, which covers Southern Nash, all the Wilson County schools (Fike, Hunt, Beddingfield), Greene Central, North Johnston, C.B. Aycock and SouthWest Edgecombe.

To read its gridiron publication, click here!

Hurricane Irene forces football games to be moved up

The JV and varsity football games with Bertie High, scheduled for Thursday and Friday this week, respectively, have been moved up a day to avoid any conflict with impending weather from Hurricane Irene.

The JV contest was played Wednesday evening at the Rocky Mount Athletic Complex (RMHS won 26-0). 

The varsity game will be played Thursday at the Roy Bond Stadium at Bertie High in Windsor for the second year in a row. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m,

For those who can't make the trip, listen to WZAX 99.3 FM for all the action. It will be a part of the station's "Game of the Week" coverage. The broadcast will start at 7 p.m. 

Also, you can listen to the game online - just click here!

WHIG-TV "Game of the Week" high school football schedule set

Wes Bradshaw

Edward Greene

WHIG-TV, Rocky Mount's local cable-access station, has released its 2011 "Game of the Week" high school football schedule. 

The program kicks off Saturday morning with the re-broadcast of two-time defending NCHSAA 2-A state champion Tarboro at Nash Central - which will be played Monday night after it was rained out Friday. 

All games will be replayed on WHIG-TV each Saturday morning at 10 and again on Sunday evening after the Stretchlon Sports Show. The show is available online at whigtv.com.

Wes Bradshaw will handle the play-by-play duties, while Edward Greene will provide the color commentary. 

Bradshaw, a 2000 Rocky Mount High School graduate, has many years of on-air experience having spent several seasons covering RMHS football, basketball and baseball on the radio for several area stations. He has also served as the voice of the Gryphons as the PA announcer at RMHS home football and baseball games.

Greene, a 2009 graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill with a degree in journalism, is a native of Winterville and a South Central High School alum. Greene works as the technical operations manager of WHIG-TV. 

The game listed in bold will be the game currently scheduled to be covered, but it could change at the discretion of the station. 

2011 WHIG-TV "Game of the Week" High School Football Show 

August 22: Tarboro at Nash Central, Southwest Edgecombe at Southern Nash
August 29: North Edgecombe at SouthWest Edgecombe, ppd. Oct. 28
September 2: SouthWest Edgecombe at Hunt, Northern Nash at Tarboro, ppd. Sept. 23
September 9: SouthWest Edgecombe at Rocky Mount, Tarboro at North Edgecombe
September 15: Fike at Hunt (Non-Con)
September 26: Northern Nash at Tarboro
September 30: Hunt at Northern Nash, Southern Nash at Fike, Nash Central at Rocky Mount
October 7: Hunt at Rocky Mount, Fike at Nash Central, Northern Nash at Southern Nash
October 14: Southern Nash at Hunt, Rocky Mount at Fike, Northern Nash at Nash Central, Tarboro at SouthWest Edgecombe
October 21: Nash Central at Hunt, Fike at Northern Nash, Southern Nash at Rocky Mount
October 28: Hunt at Fike, Rocky Mount at Northern Nash, Nash Central at Southern Nash,
Beddingfield at Tarboro*
November 4: Playoffs

RMHS adds two alums to football staff

When Rocky Mount needed some help on its football coaching staff, in walked two former Gryphon players.

With three different assistant football coaches leaving the staff over the summer (Kent Cox took the girls golf coaching position, J.J. Jones took an hiatus from coaching, Alan Hess accepted a head coaching job back in his home state of Indiana), head coach Dickie Schock needed some help.

Things got even worse when Elbert Thomas, a current assistant, faced major surgery and would miss most of the Gryphons' preseason.

Enter Rodney Birth and Brandon Arrington. Both former Gryphons, who approached Schock about openings on his staff, excelled not only in football, but in baseball, too.

Birth, who will help with the special teams, is a 1979 RMSH grad who played his college ball at N.C. Central. He was a running back and punter for the Gryphons, and he was a star pitcher in baseball.

Arrington, a 2006 RMHS alum who recently graduated from UNC-Pembroke in exercise sports science, was a standout wide receiver and solid center fielder for the Gryphons. He'll assist with the receivers.

Both have a standout football play in my memory banks. 

For Birth, it was a blowout game at Wilson Fike in the regular season finale his senior season that stood out.

With the Gryphons winning 41-0, RM got the ball on a punt at the Fike 48 with less than a minute left in the first half. Then-head coach Walt Wiggins didn't want to rub the score in, so he called a draw play to Birth.

At the handoff (from QB Bill Merrifield), there was hole in the middle of the line a semi could have cruised through. Birth went straight up the middle of the field for a 48-yard score. He didn't veer - just a straight line dash to the end zone. RM ended up winning 67-7.

Arrington, who caught 37 passes for 840 yards and eight TDs in his career as a Gryphon, ended up in the RM record books after his memorable play. Playing in his final season in a road game at Kinston, the Vikings had punted to the Gryphons.

After the ball rolled dead at the RM 2, Kinston's players downed it and celebrated like they had scored a TD.

But they didn't celebrate long.

Assistant coach Curtis Rushing suggested to then-head coach B.W. Holt that the Gryphons go to the air. So QB Jason Tyler went to a deep drop in the end zone and hit Arrington on the left at the Gryphon 19. He turned up field and outran the Kinston secondary for a 98-yard touchdown pass - the longest in school history.

RMHS went on to win the game handily.

"Coaching at my alma mater is a great opportunity for me," said Arrington recently. "RMHS has done a lot for me and prepare me for the next level and I wanted to give some of the skills I've learned back to the guys. I didn't think I'd ever be in the position to actually come back and help with a RM team. But when I had the opportunity, I jumped at the chance."

Perhaps the coaching twosome will be part of a memorable play or two as members of the RMHS coaching staff. It also features two more former Gryphon grads in Gerald Costen ('73) and Jason Battle ('98).

Goodwin becomes a millionaire

Brian Goodwin in now a National.

From MLB Daily Dish Blog

The Washington Nationals are just starting to warm up after coming to terms with the 34th overall pick Brian Goodwin to a deal believed to be $3.6 million. Goodwin is left-handed outfielder who may possibly stick at center.

He originally played at the University of North Carolina, but was dismissed from there due to academic issues. He then restarted his career at Miami Dade College, where he became Florida's top ranked college player.

He had a commitment to play at the University of South Carolina, but decided to sign with the Nationals instead. Last year, he had an on-base percentage of .500, allowing the Nationals to dream of him as a possible future leadoff hitter.

Goodwin had been drafted by the Chicago White Sox in 2009 after playing at UNC, where he was named to the Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American Team and the Gatorade Player of the Year in North Carolina.

Gryphons play well in scrimmages

Rocky Mount tangles with Roanoke Rapids last Wednesday in a practice session at Yellow Jackets'  Hoyle Field. (Photo/Roanoke Rapids News Herald)

Rocky Mount's football team finally got to hit someone else this past Wednesday and Friday.

The Gryphons traveled up I-95 to Roanoke Rapids to face the Yellow Jackets, champions of the Northern Carolina 2-A Conference last season and a 2-A playoff victim of Tarboro last season.

Rocky Mount outscored RoRap three to nothing.

At the Mellow Mushroom Pigskin Classic Friday evening at Wake Forest-Rolesville High's Trentini Stadium, RMHS squared off for an hour with Leesville Road. Both teams were missing starters. Big among the Gryphon MIAs was starting running back Rodquez Greene. A strained MCL was keeping him on the sidelines.

But the Gryphons played well on both sides of the ball as they prevailed two scores to none over a Pride team that went 9-3 last season.

Mason Hines' 1-yard plunge got RMHS its first score late in the first half. It culminated a nine-play, 60-yard drive. A two-point conversion pass failed.

In the second half, quarterback Michael Hines hit Damien Strickland on a 70-yard scoring pass. RM was successful on a two-point toss as well.

RMHS' defense played solidly all game long and allowed the Pride to cross midfield only once.

But the games will count for real Friday as the Gryphons will travel to Bunn to open the regular season. Game time is 7:30 p.m.

RMHS is first in volleyball, second in boys soccer in preseason picks

I thought of doing this a few years ago, but I needed help. I got it Wednesday morning.

For the last eight or nine years, I have polled the Big East/NEW 6/Big East football coaches for their preseason football picks.

But I always wanted to poll some of the other fall sports coaches of their picks, but they meet at the same time as the football coaches and I couldn't be in three places at one time.

Enter friend Dave Buck and his son Stevie.

They administered poll ballots to the other coaches, while I took care of the football coaches. In the end, even with the absence of a couple coaches, we concluded with preseason conference polls in football, volleyball and boys soccer.

And Rocky Mount fared well in both, unlike football. Tabitha Wilcox's volleyball team finished narrowly in first, while Andrew Nick's squad placed behind Wilson Hunt for the boys soccer crown.

2011 Big East Preseason Volleyball Coaches Poll

(Five points for first place, four points for second place,. etc. Coaches could not vote for their own team)

1. Rocky Mount (2) 18 pts.

2. Wilson Hunt (3) 16 pts.

3. Northern Nash 14 pts.

4. Nash Central 12 pts.

5. Southern Nash 9 pts.

6. Wilson Fike 5 pts.

(one coach was absent for voting)

2011 Big East Preseason Boys Soccer Coaches Poll

(Five points for first place, four points for second place,. etc. Coaches could not vote for their own team)

1. Wilson Hunt (4) 24 pts.

2. Rocky Mount (1) 16 pts.

3. Wilson Fike 14 pts.

4. Southern Nash 10 pts.

T5. Nash Central 6 pts.

T5. Northern Nash 6 pts.

(one coach was absent for voting)

Gryphons picked to share last place in Big East football

Rocky Mount has had the pressure taken off it for the 2011 football season.

The Gryphons, a conference-winning favorite seven of the last nine years, along with Wilson Fike were picked to finish dead last in the Big East Conference race this season.

In a vote of the league's coaches at the Big East Conference Kickoff Meeting at Wilson Fike Wednesday, Rocky Mount and Wilson Fike got the lowest number points - seven.

Wilson Hunt, the co-champion last season, garnered all the first place votes it could (five) to get the No. 1 spot in the preseason poll (25 points). 

Southern Nash, which finished in the league race last season, got one first-place vote and was second with 20 points.

Northern Nash (16), which shared 2011 title with Hunt, outpointed Southern Nash (15) by one in the race for third place in the poll.

2011 Big East Preseason Football Coaches Poll

(Five points for first place, four points for second place,. etc. Coaches could not vote for their own team)

1. Wilson Hunt (5) 25 pts.

2. Southern Nash (1) 20 pts.

3. Northern Nash 16 pts.

4. Nash Central 15 pts.

T5. Rocky Mount 7 pts.

T5. Wilson Fike 7 pts.

Brown makes early commitment to East Carolina

Rocky Mount's J'Kyra Brown drives to the basket against Northern Nash in a game last season. (Photo/David Hahula)

Rocky Mount athletic director Mike Gainey confirmed Tuesday afternoon that Gryphon guard J'Kyra Brown, who played her first year of varsity basketball this past season, has verbally committed to play college basketball at East Carolina.

The rising junior, who missed her entire freshman year due a torn ACL, had a phenomenal season for her first time out of the gate. 

Brown was named to the NCPreps.com 3-A All-State Girls Basketball Team last season to go with her Player of the Year honor from the Big East Conference. 

She led the Lady Gryphons to a school-record 25 wins (25-4), a share of the Big East Conference regular season title, the conference's tournament championship and an Eastern sectional final berth with eventual state champion South Central.

Brown scored 14.8 points a game, pulled down 5.3 rebounds an outing and dished out 3.1 assists a contest. She also popped in a team-leading 44 3-pointers.

Take in a scrimmage this week

It's now time for every high school football team, should it decide to accept it, to enter "The Scrimmage Zone."

Beginning Wednesday and running to end of the week, every Nash County team will participate in at least one scrimmage or jamboree. Rocky Mount and Nash Central will do it - twice!

So here's the list where each team will be playing. And interestingly enough, all four will do it on the road!

Nash County HS Football Scrimmage Schedule

Wed., Aug. 10 - Rocky Mount @ Roanoke Rapids, 6 p.m.

Fri., Aug. 12 - Northern Nash @ North Johnston Football Jamboree, 5 p.m.

Fri., Aug. 12 - Southern Nash @ Wilson Fike Football Jamboree, 6 p.m.

Fri., Aug 12 - Nash Central @ Greene Central Football Jamboree, 6 p.m.

Fri., Aug, 12 - Rocky Mount vs. Leesville Road @ Merry Mushroom Pigskin Classic, 7 p.m.

Sat., Aug. 13 - Nash Central @ East Wake Football Jamboree, 5 p.m.

Rocky Mount Telegram Football Tour - Rocky Mount Gryphons

Click on the arrow to see Rocky Mount Telegram sports staff members discuss the 2011 Gryphon football program with third-year head coach Dickie Schock.

Scenes from the future: RMHS' new football stadium

Home Stands

Scoreboard End Zone

Away Stands

Home Stands - zoom shot (Photos/Chris Hughes - click on each to enlarge)

Everyone likes brand new things - most of the time. In about one year, the Rocky Mount Gryphons will be breaking in its new football stadium - on its new campus. It will be the first time the Blackbirds or the Gryphons have ever played a game on the actual school grounds.

Above are a few shots (click on each shot to enlarge) of the new stadium - far from complete - taken by CarolinaPreps.com's Chris Hughes. It eventually will be part of his wonderful "The Stadium Project" where he has photographed virtually every high school football stadium in the state. He says he has about seven or eight left to visit of the near 375-plus across the state.

Wakefield, Eden Morehead, Heritage and Southeast Raleigh are among the few missing from his site.

Hughes plans to return next summer and get shots of a perfectly completed stadium project. 

RMHS fans may miss the 766 seats at the Rocky Mount Athletic Complex at midfield that have seat backs. 

But I won't miss not having A/C in the press box. The new one will be as cool as a cucumber - just perfect for a first season that should have a few August home games!

The 1972-73 Rocky Mount boys hoop team to be honored at Glaxo

In celebration of the 40th anniversary of the GlaxoSmithKline Holiday Invitational Basketball Tournament, the members of the original four teams (Rocky Mount, Garner, Sanderson, Kinston) that played in the inaugural tournament are being invited back to the event and will honored during the week of play.

And of course, the current teams from those schools will play in a special bracket of the tournament this December at Broughton's Holliday Gym.

In case you don't remember who was on that '72-'73 team that won that first championship, here are those 12 gentlemen and the class they graduated in - including MVP Phil  Ford.

1972-73 "RMSH" Boys Basketball Team Roster

Carlton "BooBoo" Alston '74

Jeff Collins '74

Gerald Costen '73

John Dinan '73

Phil Ford '74

James Hart '73

Cleveland Howard '73

Joe Jones '74
Thomas Lancaster '74

Roy Thomas '74

Randy Warrick '73

Jimmy Weeks '74

Head Coach - Richard Hicks

Assistant Coach - Shelton Chesson

Gryphons to scrimmage in Wake Forest-Rolesville event

Rocky Mount head football coach Dickie Schock (right, foreground) talks over practice plans with assistants (l-r) Curtis Rushing, Jason Battle and Gerald Costen last Saturday morning at the Rocky Mount Athletic Complex. (Photo/David Hahula)

Rocky Mount will play in just one football scrimmage this preseason. The Gryphons will be headed to Wake Forest to play in the Mellow Mushroom Pigskin Classic at Wake Forest-Rolesville High's newly remodeled Trintini Stadium on Friday, Aug. 12.

The eight-team event will have Rocky Mount facing Leesville Road in an one-hour session beginning at 7 p.m.

The Gryphons' only other preseason matchup with another team will take place on Wednesday, Aug. 10  when they travel up I-95 to practice against Roanoke Rapids. Practice will begin at 6 p.m.

Rocky Mount opens the regular season on Friday, Aug. 19 at Bunn High School - their first-ever meeting.

Mellow Mushroom Pigskin Classic

Trintini Stadium, Wake Forest-Rolesville High School

Wake Forest, North Carolina

Friday, Aug. 12 

5 p.m. - Bunn vs. Oxford Webb

6 p.m. - Heritage vs. East Wake

7 p.m. - Leesville Road vs. Rocky Mount

8 p.m. - Wake Forest-Rolesville vs. Panther Creek

Pickette takes over as RMHS' head trainer

It's hard to replace a legend.

Doug Pickette

So Rocky Mount High School did the next best thing when it came to Bernie Capps - tab his understudy!

Capps, who served the school for 39 years as its head athletic trainer, stepped down from his post at the end of the school year in June. Until his 66th birthday, the N.C. Athletic Trainers’ Association Hall of Famer oversaw the whole sports program, but was more visible at football, basketball and baseball games.

The school decided to go inside and select his protege’, Doug Pickette, not really to fill Capps’ shoes, but to continue the quality of service young athletes deserve and promote the standards established by him when he came aboard in the fall of 1972. 

Pickette, 54, has been a teacher (Social Studies) and a trainer at RMHS for the last 12 years. The Scotland Neck native could usually be found attending to school athletes at soccer and softball games. 

Now, he's on a bigger stage. 

"Doug Pickette will be taking over the head trainer’s position, and the good thing about that is he knows the system and the athletes," said Rocky Mount Athletic Director Mike Gainey. "It is comforting to know that we have people on staff here that are able to move into a leadership position after someone leaves or retire. My preference is to hire from within as opposed to going outside. Doug has been in the system for quite awhile and he has the knowledge and knows how to get the job done.

"It is going to be a challenge, but from what I have observed, he is ready for it."

Actually, his duties have already started as he cared for the school’s football players during their 7-on-7 passing league schedule this past summer. But officially, he was on duty for the first time at the Gryphons' first football practice of the season Saturday seconds after midnight. 

"Many have asked me about replacing Bernie,” said Pickette, who graduated from East Carolina University and got his training career going while teaching and coaching at Southeast Halifax in the mid-80s."I have told everyone for years that he is irreplaceable! He deserves a place of honor in the Gryphon Hall of Fame. Bernie will be around continuing to contribute to the success of our programs in the diplomatic sense, particularly, for as long as he feels led to and is able.

“He and I talk almost daily and it is great not having to re-invent the wheel in the new position I have." 

Pickette left teaching for a time for a career in retailing, but he found himself drawn back to the classroom. 

He returned to teaching in 1996 when he took a position at Edwards Middle School, RMHS’ main feeder school. He furthered his training with courses to become an EMT and a first responder and for a time, he worked part-time as a Nash County EMT. 

Three years later, he transferred to RMHS and began to assist Capps with over 24 varsity and junior varsity sports teams it fields. 

Pickette says he’s ready for his new task at hand and is eager to see how his new experience will go. 

“I have already come to enjoy the intensity and working relationships that I have in this new role at RMHS,” he said.

Gainey to coach in the Carolinas Basketball Classic

RMHS boys basketball coach Mike Gainey (Photo/David Hahula)

Rocky Mount athletic director and head boys basketball coach Mike Gainey has been selected to be an assistant for the N.C. boys squad at the 2012 NC/SC Carolinas Basketball Classic game in Myrtle Beach, S.C. in March.

Gainey, whose Gryphons won the 2010 NCHSAA 3-A state championship, was the head coach for the victorious East boys squad (99-98) at the 2010 NCCA East-West All-Star Basketball Game.

"I am blessed and honored to be selected to coach again in an All-Star game," Gainey said Monday. "This year, I am serving as an assistant and I look forward to the challenge. I am also blessed to have a wife and two children who continue to give me the strength, love and support throughout my career.

"I would like to thank my staff and players (former and present) for their hard work and dedication to the Gryphon program." 

He has a career record of 253-114 in 14 seasons. His teams have won five conference titles, seven conference tournament crowns, recorded four 20-win seasons, three sectional titles and a regional title.